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Iraqi forces eliminate Daesh bombers on way to Baghdad

Saturday, 21 May 2016 9:33 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 21 May 2016 9:33 AM ]

Iraqi troops attend a training camp near the city of Fallujah, some 69 kilometers (43 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, in the Anbar province on April 25, 2016. ©AFP

Iraqi forces have foiled an attempt by bombers of the Takfiri Daesh terrorists to infiltrate the capital Baghdad, killing as many as 11 militants in the process.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry reported the development in a statement on Saturday, Iraq’s Arabic news channel Al Sumaria reported.

It said an armed unit attached to the ministry killed the terrorists near the Anbar province’s city of Fallujah, which is located roughly 69 kilometers (43 miles) west of the capital.

The development comes as more than 200 people have been killed in bomb attacks in and around Baghdad over the past days. Daesh has claimed responsibility for all the assaults.

Iraq’s al-Forat news agency, meanwhile, reported that four Daesh militant commanders had been killed by Iraqi forces, but did not specify whether they were among the 11 fatalities.

It added that the troops destroyed 21 explosive belts and a vehicle belonging to the group.

Separately, booby-traps went off in two districts across the capital, killing four people and injuring 11 others.

A handout image released by the press office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi shows him in the Anbar province’s capital Ramadi as the city is declared liberated from Daesh. ©AFP

Daesh has been wreaking havoc in Iraq since June 2014. The Iraqi military’s most important victory against the terrorists ever since has been their liberation of the central city of Ramadi, Anbar’s provincial capital, last December.

Baghdad said at the time that the army would use Ramadi’s liberation as a “launch pad” to free Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has pledged to rid the entire country of Daesh by the end of 2016.

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